Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Baltic Way was a peaceful human chain connecting three Baltic capitals that took place on the 23rd of August 1989. The event linked Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn to protest the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed on the 23rd of August 1939.
Western estimates placed participant numbers between one and two million people across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Reuters News reported about 700,000 Estonians and 1,000,000 Lithuanians joined while the Latvian Popular Front estimated approximately 400,000 Latvians participated.
The demonstration connected Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn by following highways A2 and Via Baltica through Širvintos, Ukmergė, Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Bauska, Iecava, Kēkava, Vangaži, Sigulda, Līgatne, Mūrnieki, Drabeši, Cēsis, Valmiera, Jēči, Lizdēni, Oleri, Rūjiena, Kōņi, Karksi-Nuia, Viljandi, Türi, and Rapla.
A sternly worded pronouncement from the Central Committee of the Communist Party appeared during the opening nineteen minutes of Vremya on the 26th of August 1989. The broadcast warned about growing nationalist extremist groups advancing anti-socialist agendas yet failed to follow up on any threats issued.
Lithuania became the first Soviet state to declare independence on the 11th of March 1990 within seven months of the Baltic Way demonstration. The independence of all three Baltic states was recognized by most Western countries by the end of 1991 following free democratic elections in February 1990.